B
iblioklept:
You definitely want to avoid having one of these in your library or bookstore. Because a biblioklept is someone who steals books… and, I bet they don’t even read them.
H
ouse Republicans have advanced legislation to ban books from public schools nationwide. You read that right… a nationwide ban. School boards and individual states banning books is problematic enough. But, needless to say, this puts us in precarious new territory.
House Resolution 7661 (HR7661) would modify the Elementary and Secondary Education act of 1965, banning the use of funds:
to develop, implement, facilitate, host, or promote any program or activity for, or to provide or promote literature or other materials to, children under the age of 18 that includes sexually oriented material, and for other purposes.[1]
Also known as the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, this bill defines “sexually oriented material” as anything that “includes any depiction, description or simulation of sexually explicit conduct.” It also expressly mentions anything that “involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism,” fallaciously equating trans identity with explicit conduct. [2]
To be clear, the discussion of gender is not sexualization. Neither is making books available to students that represent the diversity of their experiences, and speak to the numerous ways to be a person in the world. [3]
The bill points out that this prohibition doesn’t apply to “standard science courses” like biology, anatomy, genetics, human health, etc. Or, teaching “the texts of major world religions, classic works of literature,” as well as “classic works of art.”[4]
However… it further states that “classic works of literature” are restricted to works included in Great Books of the Western World (published in 1990). As well as two reading lists titled Classics Every Middle Schooler Should Read (from Compass Classroom).[5]
Take note that Great Books of the Western World was published before the recent increase in availability of LGBTQ+ literature.[6] If passed, this bill would prohibit all public schools across the country from teaching LGBTQ+ literature. Or having books that even mention trans people in their libraries. This ban would also apply to some federally funded sex education programs, as well as clubs and support groups.
As Sabrina Baêta, senior manager of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, points out:
This targeted censorship amounts to a harmful assault on historically marginalized and underrepresented populations — a dangerous effort to erase their stories, achievements and history from schools. [7]
It’s pretty clear that bills like H.R. 7661 aren’t fundamentally about protecting kids. They’re about efforts to restrict whose stories are allowed to be told – and more importantly, whose stories are not allowed to be told.
Whether you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community or not, as ALA President Sam Helmick asserts, “That should concern anyone who believes in the freedom to read and the right of families to make decisions for themselves.” [8] And let’s not forget the right for everyone to see themselves represented in an authentic manner.
Today, it’s the LGBTQ community who is effectively being excised from the national narrative. Who will it be tomorrow? What’s to stop it from being you?
So, be sure to call your congressional representatives and tell them to vote NO on HR7661. The number to the Capitol switchboard is: 202-224-3121.
And, get organized. Groups like the American Library Association, EveryLibrary, andAuthors Against Book Banscan help you get started.
[1] H.R.7661 – Stop the Sexualization of Children Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7661/text
[2] H.R.7661 – Stop the Sexualization of Children Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7661/text
[3] Jensen, Kelly. “A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives.” Feb 26, 2026. Book Riot.
https://bookriot.com/hr7661-book-ban-legislation/
[4] H.R.7661 – Stop the Sexualization of Children Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7661/text
[5] H.R.7661 – Stop the Sexualization of Children Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7661/text
[6] Christine Larson and Ashley Carter. “What’s behind the astonishing rise in LGBTQ+ romance literature?” The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-the-astonishing-rise-in-lgbtq-romance-literature-223159
Patton, Elaina. “A ‘renaissance of gay literature’ marks a turning point for publishing.” NBCNews. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/lgbtq-fiction-gay-literature-publishing-turning-point-rcna127922
“The Evolution of LGBTQ+ Literature.” NumberAnalytics. https://www.numberanalytics.com/blog/evolution-of-lgbtq-literature
[7] “Book Bans in Schools Sweep Across Reading Levels, Genres and Topics, While Censorship Erases Stories about People of Color and LGBTQ Topics Most Often.” February 27, 2025. PEN America. https://pen.org/press-release/book-bans-in-schools-sweep-across-reading-levels-genres-and-topics-while-censorship-erases-stories-about-people-of-color-and-lgbtq-topics-most-often/
[8] Yorio, Kara. “Anti-Censorship Advocates Respond to H.R. 7661: “Discriminatory at Its Core.’” February 27, 2026. School Library Journal. https://prod.slj.com/story/Anti-Censorship-Advocates-Respond-HR-7661-Discriminatory-Its-Core
Nationwide Ban: Photo by Drew Walker on Unsplash
Pride Flag: Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik.
In Conclusion: Photo by Alex Jackman on Unsplash
T
eachers are hamstrung at every turn. From lack of funding to the dismantling of the Department of Education, to the book banning that leaves gaping holes in their curriculums and libraries. But, here’s a free resource for teachers to help with the essential work you do every day.
It’s called RetroReport. And, they’re an Emmy-winning organization – not to mention their Edward R. Murrow Award, as well as nominations to a bevy of other well-respected awards like the Peabody.
RetroReport produces resources for teachers in the format students find most engaging these days… that is, short-form digital videos. Over 250 of them and counting. Along with these short-form documentaries, they provide interactive resources and interdisciplinary lesson plans designed to engage students of all learning styles.
RetroReport also offers professional development opportunities for educators, consisting of virtual seminars in addition to in-person workshops.
Consistent with This Book is Banned’s dedication to advancing literacy, RetroReport’s videos are an excellent tool for teaching the media literacy skills that are increasingly necessary. Such capabilities are essential for helping students navigate the onslaught of online twaddle they face on a daily basis.
And, for you English teachers who get challenged on a daily basis about why “old” books like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein still matter… pair texts with videos about ethical debates, for example, surrounding scientific endeavors like Dolly the cloned sheep.
Or use RetroReport’s short documentaries to supplement areas where book banning has left gaps in your classroom libraries. And, be sure to check out their video about book banning, and the influential Supreme Court ruling that addressed it.
The best part is that all of RetroReport’s resources are free.
Be sure to check them out. And, set up your free account here.
Attention Teachers: Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
F
rederick Douglass. A towering figure in American history. His name is inextricably linked with the abolition of slavery. He was also one of the most outspoken advocates of women’s rights as well as those of other oppressed groups.
He was a writer, editor, minister, and reformer. The motto of his abolitionist newspaper The North Star was “Right is of no Sex, Truth is of no Color.”[1] Douglass was also the most renowned speaker of the late nineteenth century.
That’s quite a resume. But, makes Frederick Douglass so important to American history?
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that he awakened the American conscience to our nation’s great shortcomings in human rights. Not to mention our betrayal of the ideals framed in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
That’s why it’s beyond unfortunate that Douglass’ writings are being banned. His early autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, is frequently scrubbed from curriculums and removed from school libraries.
It Isn’t About Shame,
It’s About Remembering.
The specious reasons given for banning Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is that it teaches Critical Race Theory (which wouldn’t even exist for another 100 years).[2] Or, that these works may cause white students to feel uncomfortable. That’s a mighty woke sentiment from the “anti-woke” crowd, those who ban books that address any form of social injustice for being overly sensitive and “woke.”[3]
Having one’s conscience awakened to social injustices like slavery and the racism that produced it isn’t about inducing shame. It’s about recognizing ways that we can better live up to the principles framed in our founding documents. You know, “all men are created equal,” with the inalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Reading books like those Douglass wrote is also about remembering our history, so we aren’t doomed to repeat its darker moments – like the slavery he escaped from, when women were denied the right to vote, or the Jim Crow era he experienced toward the end of his life.
The Jim Crow era refers to a long period in US history following the Civil War, when Black Americans couldn’t exercise the same rights of citizenship as white Americans.[4] This legal system of unequal opportunities was dismantled with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the overturn of Southern states’ laws criminalizing inter-racial marriage by the Loving v Virginia case in 1967.
But these days, there’s the very real danger of a return to the Jim Crow era. We’re seeing an undeniable push to undo the work accomplished by the Civil Rights Movement. Is it merely a coincidence that books like Douglass’ Narrative, are being removed from classroom shelves and stricken from curriculums – those that educate students about racial injustices like slavery and those suffered during the Jim Crow era? I think not.
Frederick Douglass
Was Born Into Slavery.
Douglass was born into slavery in 1817 or 1818 (he was never sure which, because the birthdates of babies born into slavery weren’t recorded). He escaped to the North in 1838.[5] This wasn’t his first attempt, however. And, he was fully aware of the risks:
I felt assured that, if I failed in this attempt, my case would be a hopeless one—it would seal my fate as a slave forever. I could not hope to get off with anything less than the severest punishment, and being placed beyond the means of escape. It required no very vivid imagination to depict the most frightful scenes through which I should have to pass, in case I failed. [6]
Fortunately, Douglas was successful. And the rest, as they say, is history.
He spent the rest of his life not only working to abolish slavery, but fighting for equal rights for all people. He championed the recognition of freedom as the natural condition of all human beings. A right that should never be denied to another – especially not by a government founded on the principles of liberty and justice.
But, Douglass doesn’t just talk about physical freedom in his numerous and moving orations. He speaks of spiritual freedom as well, specifically the freedom that comes from reading and education.
His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, contains a passage about his enslaver’s wife teaching him to read when he was a child. But, when her husband discovered this turn of events, he forbid her to continue the lessons in no uncertain terms, declaring:
A n***er should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best n***er in the world. Now,” said he, “if you teach that n***er (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. [7]
Not surprisingly, these words had quite an impact on the young Frederick Douglass. Just not the one his enslaver was hoping for. These hateful words “called into existence an entirely new train of thought” in him:[8]
…a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. [9]
That pathway to freedom was, and continues to be, reading and education. So, he found a way to continue learning to read, no matter what his enslaver said.
Tom Sawyer Himself
Couldn’t Have Done Better.
Realizing how important reading is, Douglass wasn’t going to let his enslaver stop him from learning. One of the ways he learned to write was by watching carpenters in the shipyard as they labeled the timbers being used for building ships. The letter S indicated a piece for the starboard side. L was for larboard. F designated the forward. And, the letter A stood for aft.
He learned this handful of letters in that matter, but he clearly needed to learn the rest of the alphabet. To learn the remaining letters, Douglass hoodwinked “any boy [he] knew could write,” with a trick that would make Tom Sawyer proud.
He told them that he could write as well as they could. And, being old enough to know that enslaved children were forbidden to learn to write, their response would invariably be, “I don’t believe you. Let me see you try it.” [10] At which point, Douglass would write the few letters he had learned, with a hearty “beat that.” And of course they did, effectively giving him a writing lesson.
As an adult, Douglass began teaching his “fellow-slaves” how to read. Given that they “were liable to be taken up, and given thirty-nine lashes” for this illegal act, it was understood that “there must be as little display about it as possible.” [11]
It was necessary to let their enslavers think the members of this reading group were spending their Sundays “wrestling, boxing, and drinking whisky.” Because they’d rather see those they enslave participating in these “degrading sports” than “behaving like intellectual, moral, and accountable beings.” [12]
Unfortunately, Douglass and his reading group were found out. And, society leaders “rushed in upon [them] with sticks and stones,” putting an end to the lessons. [13]
Thinking back on these days, Douglass divulges that, “The work of instructing my dear fellow-slaves was the sweetest engagement with which I was ever blessed,” further stating:
They came because they wished to learn. Their minds had been starved by their cruel masters. They had been shut up in mental darkness. I taught them, because it was the delight of my soul to be doing something that looked like bettering the condition of my race. [14]
The Blessings
Of Education.
On the fifty-sixth anniversary of his escape from bondage (September 3, 1894), Douglas delivered a speech at the dedication of the Colored Industrial School at Manassas, Virginia.[15] This oration is known as The Blessings of Liberty and Education address. Needless to say, it addresses how liberty and education are linked. And, the benefits of education no matter what position you hold in society, or what you do for a living.
Douglass makes it clear that he has great respect for laborers, and those who work with their hands (what we refer to these days as “the trades”) – and rightly so. He goes on to say, however, that there is “no useful thing a that a man can do, that cannot be better done by an educated man than by an uneducated one.”[16]
He points out that human beings are the most helpless “of all the creatures… on this green earth,” the one “in most need of instruction.”[17] And, he reminds us that in our “natural condition,” we don’t “take high rank,” among other animals. We can’t run as fast as a horse or a dog, for example. We aren’t as strong as a mule or an ox.
Humanity’s true dignity, Douglass asserts, is not to be found in our arms or our legs, but in our heads. That is the “seat and source of all that is of especially great or practical importance” to mankind.[18] There may be “fire in the flint and steel:”
…but it is friction that causes it to flash, flame and burn, and give light where all else may be darkness. There is music in the violin, but the touch of the master is needed to fill the air and the soul with the concord of sweet sounds. There is power in the human mind, but education is needed for its development.[19]
A Shout-out
To Teachers.
And Douglas gives a shout-out to teachers, with a much-needed reminder of how vital their vocation is to each and every one of us:
As man is the highest being on earth, it follows that the vocation of scholar is among the highest known to man. It is to teach and induce man’s potential and latent greatness. It is to discover and develop the noblest, highest and best that is in him. In view of this fact no man whose business it is to teach should ever allow himself to feel that his mission is mean, inferior or circumscribed. In my estimation neither politics nor religion present to us a calling higher than this primary business of unfolding and strengthening the powers of the human soul. It is a permanent vocation. Some men know the value of education by having it. I know its value by not having it. It is a want that begins with the beginning of human existence, and continues through all
the journey of human life.[20]
Sadly, way too many of us have lost sight of just how important educators are, and how noble a calling teaching is. Especially these days, when they’re being threatened with fines and jail time for doing the essential work of broadening students’ perspectives, expanding their worlds, and teaching them to think critically.
Without Education
Man Is But A Pitiable Object.
Douglass also calls attention to what happens to those who don’t read and get an education. And by education, he doesn’t just mean learning vocational skills. He is talking about literature, the Arts, and philosophy – subjects that develop critical thinking and fall under the Humanities umbrella. Disciplines that engender a greater understanding of our fellow human beings (they’re referred to as Humanities for a reason):
But if man is without education although with all his latent possibility attaching to him he is, as l have said, but a pitiable object; a giant in body but a pigmy in intellect, and at best but half a man. Without education he lives within the narrow, dark and grimy walls of ignorance. He is a poor prisoner without hope. The little light that he gets comes to him as through dark corridors and grated windows. The sights and sounds that reach him, so significant and full of meaning to the well-trained mind, are to him of dim and shadowy importance. He sees, but does not perceive. He hears, but does not understand. The silent and majestic heavens fretted with stars, so inspiring and uplifting, so sublime and glorious to the souls of other men, bear no message to him. They suggest to him no idea of the wonderful world in which we live, or of the harmony of this great universe, and hence, impart to him no happiness.[21]
We’re seeing the results of such a lacking education today. Humanities programs in K-12 education have been diminishing for decades. And, universities are being reduced to vocational training grounds rather than institutions for developing well-rounded members of society. So, no one should be surprised that we’re seeing so many people feeling hopeless, and fearful of those whose lives are different from their own.
And ask yourself, “who benefits from such a lack of education?” It certainly isn’t the “average Joe.” He has become the “pitiable object” Douglass speaks of, a prisoner of the fear created by his lack of understanding. One that is easy to inflame and manipulate.
Keep in mind what Douglass’s enslaver had to say on the subject of reading and education. That the people he enslaved should “know nothing but to obey [their] master – to do as [they] are told to do.” In other words, no critical thinking. Today’s version of this sentiment is that an employee only needs to learn about the skills required for their job. No critical thinking. Just do what the boss tells you to do. And do it without question.
Democracy
In Crisis.
Bearing the symptoms of a deficient education in mind, it should (once again) be no surprise that today’s headlines are filled with stories about American democracy being in crisis. Our citizenry has been rendered vulnerable to division and manipulation. And, we’ve been trained not to question, even things we’ve seen with our own eyes. These are prime conditions for an authoritarian regime of oligarchs to swoop in and become modern-day plantation owners.
But, as Frederick Douglass asserts:
Education, on the other hand, means emancipation. It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into the glorious light of truth, the light by which men can only be made free. To deny education to any people is one of the greatest crimes against human nature. [22]
The insights Frederick Douglass imparts about the importance of reading and education was hard-earned. His works continue to keep the American conscience awake. Which is why his writings are vital, not only to American history but also to our future.
Given that books like Douglass’ are being pulled from classroom shelves and stripped from curriculums, we are being denied education in this country. But, as Douglass found a way to read and educate himself, so can we find a way to keep his more relevant-than-ever works alive. So, let’s get started!
Download the following Frederick Douglass texts:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
an American Slave.
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.
Pair this with Einstein… Champion Of A Liberal Arts Education!
#Black History Month #Banned Books #African American authors
#The American Experience #The Benefit of Humanities #Frederick Douglass
#Published 1840s
Endnotes:
[1] “Biographies: Frederick Douglass.” PBS.org https://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/douglass.html
[2] Bickerton, James. “Oklahoma School Book Ban Blocks Works From Eight Black Authors – Full List.” Newsweek. September 6, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/oklahoma-school-book-ban-blocks-works-eight-black-authorsfull-list-1740301
[3] Van Atten, Suzanne. “Bookshelf: Lines are drawn in the battle over book bans.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 13, 2024. https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/bookshelf-lines-are-drawn-in-the-battle-over-book-bans/JI7LWMCQAFF5VIWZLQZCJCVJZI/
[4] Corbould, Clare. “Activists are warning of a return to the Jim Crow era in America. But who or what was Jim Crow?” The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/activists-are-warning-of-a-return-to-the-jim-crow-era-in-america-but-who-or-what-was-jim-crow-248890
[5] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845.
[6] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Pg 91-92.
[7] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Pg 29.
[8] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Pg 29.
[9] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Pg 29.
[10] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Pg 38.
[11] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Pg 71, 69-70.
[12] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Pg 70.
[13] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Pg 70.
[14] Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Pg 71.
[15] “The Blessings of Liberty and Education: An Address Delivered in Manassas, Virginia, on September 3, 1894.” The Frederick Douglass Papers. https://www.frederickdouglasspapersproject.com/s/digitaledition/item/19104
[16] Douglass, Frederick. “The Blessings of Liberty and Education.” The Frederick Douglass Papers. https://www.frederickdouglasspapersproject.com/s/digitaledition/item/19104
[17] Douglass, Frederick. “The Blessings of Liberty and Education.” The Frederick Douglass Papers. https://www.frederickdouglasspapersproject.com/s/digitaledition/item/19104
[18] Douglass, Frederick. “The Blessings of Liberty and Education.” The Frederick Douglass Papers. https://www.frederickdouglasspapersproject.com/s/digitaledition/item/19104
[19] Douglass, Frederick. “The Blessings of Liberty and Education.” The Frederick Douglass Papers. https://www.frederickdouglasspapersproject.com/s/digitaledition/item/19104
[20] Douglass, Frederick. “The Blessings of Liberty and Education.” The Frederick Douglass Papers. https://www.frederickdouglasspapersproject.com/s/digitaledition/item/19104
[21] Douglass, Frederick. “The Blessings of Liberty and Education.” The Frederick Douglass Papers. https://www.frederickdouglasspapersproject.com/s/digitaledition/item/19104
[22] Douglass, Frederick. “The Blessings of Liberty and Education.” The Frederick Douglass Papers. https://www.frederickdouglasspapersproject.com/s/digitaledition/item/19104
Images:
Frederick Douglass: Public Domain.
It Isn’t About Shame, It’s About Remembering: Photo by Mr Cup / Fabien Barral on Unsplash
Frederick Douglass Was Born Into Slavery: Scourged back by McPherson & Oliver, 1863.jpg Public Domain.
Tom Sawyer Himself Couldn’t Have Done Better: Mark Twain (1835-1910), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Blessings Of Education: Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
A Shout-out To Teachers: Photo by Antoinette Plessis on Unsplash
Without Education Man Is But A Pitiable Object: Photo by Satyam Pathak on Unsplash
Democracy In Crisis: Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
W
hat, pray tell, is an African American Read-in? Well… it’s the nation’s oldest event dedicated solely to promoting diversity in literature, and encouraging communities to read books by and about African American folks.
And, they’re a great way to push back against the book banning that is eliminating diverse literature from classroom shelves, libraries, and scrubbing it from school curriculums. And, the best time to host one is during Black History Month!
African American Read-ins were envisioned by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English. And, have been a traditional part of Black History Month celebrations since 1990.[1]
Since their inception, they’ve engaged millions of readers worldwide. It promotes diverse voices in literature, as well as fostering a love for reading across age groups and cultures.
Needless to say, Read-ins can revolve around all sorts of the diverse literature being targeted by book banning these days. So, organize an LGBTQIA+ Read-in for June. Or a Hispanic Heritage Read-in during September.
Why Participate In
An African American Read-In?
The main reason to join in an African American Read-In (or any other read-in) is to shine a spotlight on the contributions of (in this case) African American writers, while encouraging a love of reading. And these days, to keep diverse voices in literature alive.
Participants also engage with texts that provide insight into (in this case) Black culture, and the history that contributed to it – which is what book banning is intended to squash. In doing so, they foster a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the works they interact with.
But, it’s also about connection and community. Read-Ins inspire people to come together, share their favorite books, and celebrate the power of storytelling.
How Do You Get Started?
What Does Hosting a Read-in Involve?
Read-ins can take place just about anywhere. From schools, to libraries, to community centers. Or even in your home. Likewise, they can be as simple or elaborate as you want them to be. From bringing a couple friends together to share a book, to organizing a community-wide event at your local library, to arranging public readings and media presentations that feature African American writers.
The format of Read-ins varies widely. A few ideas include:
*Readings by authors
*A common reading of a particular text – like a book club
*Poetry slams
*Perform a play
*Film screenings paired with discussions of related texts
*Book drives to collect books by diverse authors to be shared at community centers
*Awards recognizing African American authors in your community
*And don’t forget… simply reading a book by an African American author
A Few Pieces
Of African American Literature
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
And A Few African Americans
Who Have Made Significant Contributions
To American History
Now that you have all the tools you need to put together
a first-rate, A-1, bang-up, African American Read-in,
be sure to get one under way!
Endnotes:
[1] African American Read-In Toolkit. National Council of Teacher of English. https://ncte.org/get-involved/african-american-read-in-toolkit/
“National African American Read In” Days Of The Year https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/national-african-american-read-in/
Images:
African American Read-In: National Council of Teachers of English https://ncte.org/get-involved/african-american-read-in-toolkit/
Why Participate in an African American Read-in?: Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
How do you get started?: Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash
A few pieces of African American literature: Photo by César Viteri on Unsplash
Y
es, they’re hampering holidays now. And, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was among the first to be meddled with.
Needless to say, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and iconic leader of the civil rights movement that took place during the 1950s and 1960s. This visionary leader advocated for civil and economic rights for people of color, as well as an end to legalized racism. In his final years, he expanded his vision to include opposition toward poverty and the Vietnam War.
Significantly, Dr. King set out to accomplish these goals through non-violent means, such as symbolic protests, civil disobedience, and economic or political noncooperation. And, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign against racism.
The civil rights movement ultimately achieved vital legislative gains with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
Martin Luther King Jr’s vision for the civil rights movement is encapsulated in his “I Have a Dream” speech, which he delivered during the groundbreaking March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, on August 28, 1963.
The following passage from Dr. King’s speech is likely seared into your memory:
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.[1]
.
And if it isn’t seared into your memory, it deserves to be. It’s as historically significant as iconic passages from other history-shaping speeches that we’ve been taught in school.
.
Like Abraham Lincoln’s:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
~ from The Gettysburg Address. [2]
.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s:
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
~ from his first inaugural address, during the Great Depression in 1933.[3]
.
Or, Patrick Henry’s:
Give me liberty or give me death.
~ from his speech to the Second Virginia Revolutionary Convention meeting at St. John’s Church, Richmond, on March 23, 1775.[4]
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech that has come to be known as “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” delivered on April 3, 1968, in support of a sanitation workers strike in Memphis, Tennessee.[5]
In this speech, Dr. King outlined great moments in history including Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, and the Civil War, as well as FDR’s response to the Great Depression. And, he included the moment he was currently living in, noting:
Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free. [6]
.
While his “I Have a Dream” speech outlines his vision for the civil rights movement, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” addresses tactics the movement was employing to accomplish their goals, and why it was important that they remain non-violent:
We aren’t going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don’t know what to do…
And we just went on before the dogs and we would look at them, and we’d go on before the water hoses and we would look at it, and we’d just go on singing, ‘Over my head I see freedom in the air.’ And then we would be thrown in the paddy wagons… and we would just go in the paddy wagon singing, ‘We Shall Overcome.’ And every now and then we’d get in jail, and we’d see the jailers looking through the windows, being moved by our prayers, and being moved by our words and our songs. And there was a power there which Bull Connor [7] couldn’t adjust to. And so we ended up transforming Bull into a steer, and we won our struggle in Birmingham. Now we’ve got to go on in Memphis just like that. I call upon you to be with us when we go out Monday. [8]
It’s Not Just About
“Long White Robes Over Yonder”
Dr. King’s “I’ve Been to The Mountaintop” speech also makes it clear that the tools at the disposal of the civil rights movement include the practical instrument of economic withdrawal – more commonly known as boycotting.
We don’t have to argue with anybody. We don’t have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don’t need any bricks and bottles. We don’t need any Molotov cocktails. We just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, “God sent us by here, to say to you that you’re not treating his children right. And we’ve come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God’s children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you.[9]
.
“I’ve Been to The Mountaintop” called for boycotts on companies with unfair hiring practices, specifically naming Coca Cola, Sealtest milk, and Wonder Bread. Dr. King also stressed the need to strengthen Black institutions. And, appealed to the audience to move their bank accounts and insurance policies to Black-owned institutions:
We want to have an “insurance-in.”
Now these are some practical things that we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base. And at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. I ask you to follow through here.[10]
Dr. King also speaks of a stabbing he narrowly survived, noting that the tip of the knife blade was sitting against his aorta. He talks about how The New York Times reported that if Dr. King had merely sneezed, he would have died. And, that the article prompted a ninth-grade girl to write a letter that included the line:
I’m simply writing you to say that I’m so happy that you didn’t sneeze.[11]
.
Discussing this turn of events gave him the opportunity to talk about the success of the marches in Birmingham and Selma. And, how they had “aroused the conscience of the nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill.”[12]
Near the end of this speech he stated, quite prophetically as it turns out:
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now, I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy tonight, I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.[13]
.
This statement was prophetic because Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated the very next morning… April 4, 1986.
Who Had The Idea For
Martin Luther King Jr. Day?
A mere four days after Dr. King’s death, Democratic Congressman from Michigan, John Conyers, proposed legislation to establish a federal holiday in Dr. King’s honor. The bill didn’t pass, but Conyers persisted, year after year for fifteen years.
In 1981 legendary musician Stevie Wonder released the song “Happy Birthday” to rally support for the holiday. And, the song was a hit in more than one sense of the word. It reached #2 on the charts in the UK. And, drove an up-swell of support for a holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the tune of six million signatures.
And in 1983, the 20-year anniversary of the March on Washington, the bill passed and President Ronald Regan signed it. But, it wasn’t until the year 2000 that every state in the Union observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Twenty-five years later, however, President Trump has issued an executive order that hampers the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.[14]
Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day still a holiday? Technically, yes. It would take Congress to cancel a federal holiday. So, banks will still be closed on MLK Day. And, you’ll still have a day off school.
What Trump can do (and has done), however, is halt all activities and special observances in government agencies, for example. He has also removed Martin Luther King Day (as well as Juneteenth) from the list of free admission days at National Parks.
And, it’s important to note that in addition to axing Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, Trump made his birthday a fee-free day.[15]
Why does this matter, if we still get a day off work or school? It matters because as George Orwell points out in this passage from his iconic work 1984 that we’re hearing quite often these days:
Who controls the past, controls the future:
who controls the present controls the past.[16]
What Does Orwell Have To Do
With Martin Luther King Jr. Day?
Orwell unpacks the phrase above by telling us that it’s the slogan of the totalitarian regime in his dystopian novel, that “mutability of the past” is the central tenet of their doctrine. He notes that, “history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed” as needed to be consistent with the Party’s ideology.[17] The regime employed this strategy because written records and human memory is where past events survive. [18]
We can see such tactics playing out in the United States these days. For example, Martin Luther King Day has been scraped from the National Park website, which has been re-inscribed with Trump’s birthday (which happens to also be Flag Day) as a free admission day.
And book banning targets works with diverse characters, as well as texts that address racism and other social injustices.
When books about diverse people and the social injustices that revolve around them are removed from classrooms and libraries, it won’t be long before the memories of history-changing individuals like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fade.
And when that happens, there’s little or no push back about re-branding – and therefore erasing – holidays that commemorate them. Just like what’s happening to Flag Day.
Keep Dr. Martin Luther king Jr.’s
Legacy Alive
Establishing Martin Luther King Day was a hard-won battle. So, let’s be sure to keep his memory alive. Observe MLK Day by reading or listening to his history-making speeches. And, by reading books by him or about him, not to mention those about the civil rights movement he inspired.
And, make sure future generations carry
his memory forward with books like these:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s story matters… a lot. Because his legacy is an important part of our nation’s history. And, reading about Dr. King’s place in that history and his commitment to fighting injustice, ensures that his legacy remains solidly within the national narrative – despite the efforts of those who wish to do otherwise.
Pair with: Rosa Parks Day: Ensuring Her Story is Told
ENDNOTES:
[1] Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream.” Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/king.dreamspeech.excerpts.pdf
[2] Lincoln, Abraham. “The Gettysburg Address.” National Constitution Center. https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/abraham-lincoln-the-gettysburg-address-1863
[3] Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. “First Inaugural Speech, March 4, 1933.” American Rhetoric.com https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrfirstinaugural.html
[4]“The Speech. Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death Speech by Patrick Henry to the Second Virginia Revolutionary Convention meeting at St. John’s Church, Richmond, on March 23, 1775.” Historic St. John’s Church, 1741. https://www.historicstjohnschurch.org/the-speech/
[5] Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/ive-been-mountaintop
[6] Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
[7] Bull Connor was the commissioner of public safety of Birmingham, Alabama, during the civil rights movement. His position gave him authority over the city’s police and fire departments among other public services. He was a staunch white supremacist, who used his position to uphold legal racial segregation and deny civil rights to Black citizens. https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/eugene-bull-connor/
[8] Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
[9] Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
[10] Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
[11] Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
[12] Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
[13] Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
[14] Ken Dilanian, Alexandra Marquez, Claretta Bellamy, and Dan De Luce. “Federal Agencies bar Black History Month and other ‘special observances.’” Jan. 31, 2025. NBCnews.com https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/defense-agency-bans-black-history-month-rcna190189
Ogwude, Haadiza. “Did Trump cancel MLK Day? Is it still a federal holiday? What to know.” January 12, 2026. Cincinnati Enquirer. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2026/01/12/did-trump-cancel-mlk-day-when-is-it-is-it-a-federal-holiday/88086083007/
[15] National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/fees.htm
Ogwude, Haadiza. “Did Trump cancel MLK Day? Is it still a federal holiday? What to know.” January 12, 2026. Cincinnati Enquirer. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2026/01/12/did-trump-cancel-mlk-day-when-is-it-is-it-a-federal-holiday/88086083007/
Dilanian, Ken, et al. “Federal agencies bar Black History Month and other ‘special observances’.” January 31, 2026. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/defense-agency-bans-black-history-month-rcna190189
[16] Orwell, George. 1984. Project Gutenberg of Australia, Pg 33.
[17] Orwell, George. 1984. Project Gutenberg of Australia, Pg 39.
[18] Orwell, George. 1984. Project Gutenberg of Australia, Pg 19.
IMAGES:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Martin Luther King, Jr., delivering “I Have a Dream.” Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/March-on-Washington#/media/1/636444/110480
I Have a Dream: This photograph was made by Rowland Scherman at the March on Washington. The negatives are in the custody of the National Archives., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
I’ve Been to the Mountaintop: Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash
It’s not just about “long white robes over yonder.”: Photo by Pop & Zebra on Unsplash
I’m so happy that you didn’t sneeze: wayhomestudio on freepik.com
How did the idea for MLK Day emerge: Photo by Júnior Ferreira on Unsplash
Is MLK Day still a holiday?: Photo by Joël Edouard on Unsplash
What does George Orwell have to do with Martin Luther King Day?: https://www.bookerworm.com/reviews/149-1984.html
So, keep Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy alive: By Abernathy Family – Abernathy Family Photos, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10063900
W
hat’s the first thing you think of when you hear the name Edgar Allan Poe? The Raven, The Tell Tale Heart, or The Black Cat? Pretty grim stuff, wouldn’t you say?
Edgar Allan Poe is considered the essential author of a genre known as Dark Romanticism. Other Dark Romance authors include Nathaniel Hawthorne, known for gloomy works like The House of the Seven Gables, Young Goodman Brown, The Devil in Manuscript, not to mention The Scarlet Letter. And, then there’s Herman Melville and Emily Dickinson, also known for their less than chipper subject matter.
Dark Romanticism is a sub-genre of Romanticism, which is a response to the Enlightenment’s unwavering faith in logic, reason, and individualism. While Romanticism isn’t an outright rejection of Enlightenment thought, it emphasizes emotional experience, human interconnectedness, as well as a connection to nature.[1]
And Dark Romanticism, needless to say, explores the darker aspects of human experience.
Dark Romanticism, A Counterpoint
To Transcendentalism.
Dark Romanticism emerged as a counterpoint to the mid-nineteenth century philosophical and literary movement known as Transcendentalism.
The key tenet of Transcendentalism is human perfectibility, toward an ideal spiritual state that “transcends” the physical (hence the term Transcendentalism).[2] And, the idealistic thought of Transcendentalist writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman is grounded in this belief in the innate goodness of humanity.[3]
Dark Romanticism, on the other hand, acknowledges the shadow side of human nature, with the capacity for moral failure, and self-destruction.[4] You undoubtedly recognize such proclivities within the macabre stories of Edgar Allan Poe. And, depiction of these very human tendencies is the reason that has been given for banning many of his works.
But Did You Know…
… that Edgar Allan Poe is also credited with writing the first detective story? His short story Murders in the Rue Morgue is considered to be the defining text of the modern detective genre. Without it, we wouldn’t have Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.
Poe’s protagonist C. Auguste Dupin is the prototype for future fictional detectives, exhibiting traits that have become literary conventions of the detective novel. Needless to say, Dupin is an eccentric, yet brilliant, detective. And, like Sherlock Holmes, his personal friend serves as narrator.
Murders in the Rue Morgue also establishes other tropes of detective fiction, such as a bumbling police force. And, the storytelling device where the detective reveals his solution, followed by an explanation of the reasoning leading up to it.
It is also the first “locked room mystery.” Which is a crime (typically a murder) that takes place under circumstances where it appears impossible for the perpetrator to enter the crime scene, commit the crime, and leave without being detected.[5]
A Focus On Analysis.
The detective genre differs from a general mystery story in that its focus is on analysis.[6] And, in a letter to a friend, Poe describes this genre-defining as “a tale of ratiocination.”[7] In other words, “the process of reasoning, or deducing conclusions from premises.”[8]
He begins The Murders in The Rue Morgue with a commentary on the nature and power of analysis, as well as the analytically minded. Poe also remarks on the significance of observation skills, to say nothing of inherent ingenuity. In other words, he outlines the characteristics required to be a master detective.
It Whets The Curiosity Of The Reader.
Poe received quite a bit of acclaim when The Murders of Rue Morgue was published, for doing what we have come to expect from top tier detective novels. As The Pennsylvania inquirer wrote:
At every step it whets the curiosity of the reader, until the interest is heightened to a point from which the mind shrinks with something like incredulity; when with an inventive power and skill, of which we know no parallel, he reconciles every difficulty, and with the most winning vraisemblance brings the mind to admit the truth of every marvel related.[9]
.
So, whether you’re a murder mystery enthusiast, interested in literary history, or simply a Poe fan, be sure to give this genre defining work a read.
Pair this post with It’s World Read Aloud Day!
[1] “How did the romantic movement differ from the enlightenment?” July 2, 2025. California Learning Resoursce Network. https://www.clrn.org/how-did-the-romantic-movement-differ-from-the-enlightenment/
[2] “Dark Romanticism.” New World Encyclopedia. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dark_romanticism#cite_note-thompson-5
[3] “Transcendentalism.” Britannica.com https://www.britannica.com/event/Transcendentalism-American-movement
[4] “Dark Romanticism Study Guide: A Literary Genre of Complex Emotions and Individualism.” American Literature.com https://americanliterature.com/dark-romanticism-study-guide/
[5] Penzler, Otto. “The Locked Room Mysteries: As a new collection of the genre’s best is published. Its editor Otto Penzler explains the rules of engagement.” The Independent. December 28, 2014. https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-locked-room-mysteries-as-a-new-collection-of-the-genre-s-best-is-published-its-editor-otto-penzler-explains-the-rules-of-engagement-9947360.html
[6] Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work
(Paperback ed.). New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. pp. 162–163.
[7] Edgar Allan Poe (ed. T. O. Mabbott), “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” The Collected
Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Vol. II: Tales and Sketches (1978), pg 521. https://www.eapoe.org/works/mabbott/tom2t043.htm#nv0527a
[8] “Ratiocination.” The GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
[9] Silverman, Kenneth Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance (https://
archive.org/details/edgarpoe00kenn) (Paperback ed.). New York: Harper Perennial,1991. Pg 174.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue: Cover of Poe, Edgar Allan. The Murders in the Rue Morgue and other stories.
New York: Popular Classics, 1895.
Counterpoint to Transcendentalism: Image by Square Frog from Pixabay
But did you know… : American Bookmen: Sketches, Chiefly Biographical, of Certain Writers of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company 1898, Pg 89.
A focus on analysis: Photo by Sergey Sokolov on Unsplash
It whets the curiosity of the reader: Daniel Vierge – https://americanliterature.com/author/edgar-allan-poe/short-story/the-murders-in-the-rue-morgue Public Domain.
Here at This Book is Banned, we talk a lot about censorship. And, as Joel Emery, the guest essayist contributing the following piece points out:
The most effective form of censorship isn’t silencing—it’s flooding the space with conflicting or misleading information.[1]
But, disinformation isn’t simply about getting some details wrong in a news story, for example. It’s about “shaping how people perceive the world,” and “what they believe is possible.” [2] That makes it possible for bad-faith actors to control the narrative. Which is precisely what the following piece by Emery addresses.
From “We Must Preserve History”
to a Digital Book Burning
The Same People Who Screamed
About “Erasing History” Are
Now Doing Exactly That
N
ot long ago, the loudest voices in American politics insisted that removing Confederate statues was an unforgivable crime against history. The argument was simple: If you take down statues of Robert E. Lee or rename military bases that honored Confederate generals, you are erasing history and denying the past.
But now, those same voices are systematically deleting records of real American history—scrubbing the contributions of women, Black service members, Hispanic leaders, and LGBTQ+ figures from official government archives. Arlington National Cemetery, the Department of Defense, and other federal institutions have quietly removed pages honoring some of America’s most decorated and groundbreaking military figures.
This isn’t about historical preservation. It’s about historical control.
What we’re witnessing is a digital book burning—a calculated effort to erase inconvenient facts, rewrite the past, and ensure that only a narrow, whitewashed version of American history remains.
Who controls the past controls the future.
Who controls the present controls the past.
~George Orwell, 1984~
The Confederate Monument Debate
Was Always About Power, Not History
The vast majority of Confederate monuments weren’t erected in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. They were put up decades later, during two key periods:
These statues weren’t built to neutrally document history. They were deliberate symbols of intimidation—reminders of who still held power.
Yet, when activists pushed to take them down, the backlash was overwhelming. “You can’t erase history!” they said. “If we start removing monuments, where does it end?” The idea that these statues were not the primary way Americans learn about history didn’t matter. The idea that textbooks, museums, and primary source documents still exist didn’t matter.
What mattered was preserving a particular version of history—one that glorified the Confederacy and minimized the reality of slavery and racial violence.
Now, the same people who said history must never be erased are burning pages from it in real time.
The Digital Purge of Military History
In the last few months, the Trump administration has systematically purged government websites of references to marginalized groups in military history. Arlington National Cemetery, long considered the final resting place for American heroes, has deleted information about Black, Hispanic, and female service members from its website. A spokesperson for the cemetery confirmed that internal links directing users to pages listing notable graves of these individuals have been removed.
Here are just a few of the names now missing from Arlington’s public historical pages:
Entire sections detailing the histories of the Buffalo Soldiers and the Tuskegee Airmen, two of the most historically significant Black military units, have also been removed.
This is literal historical erasure—not the symbolic kind that Confederate statue defenders once railed against, but the actual destruction of public records and digital archives.
The Hypocrisy Is Blinding
So where are the voices that screamed about “erasing history” when Confederate monuments were taken down?
Where is the outrage from the people who insisted that removing statues of men who fought against the United States was an unacceptable loss to our national memory?
Now that the names being erased belong to Black soldiers, women pioneers, and LGBTQ+ service members, the silence is deafening.
Because the truth is, this was never about history.
If it were, there would be just as much anger about the removal of Colin Powell’s name from Arlington’s website as there was about renaming Fort Bragg. But that anger doesn’t exist, because for these people, some history is worth remembering and some isn’t.
What This Is Really About
This isn’t about preserving or erasing history. It’s about who gets to be remembered.
The Confederate monument debate was about protecting a specific ideological narrative—one that glorifies white supremacy, minimizes the horrors of slavery, and erases Black resistance. The DEI purge happening under the Trump administration is the exact same project in reverse: eliminating the records of anyone who challenges that narrative.
Confederate statues were defended because they reinforce a vision of America where white men are the heroes. The contributions of Black, Hispanic, female, and LGBTQ+ service members are now being erased for the exact same reason.
This is not about fairness. It is not about keeping history neutral. It is not about preventing “wokeness” in the military.
It is about rewriting the past to serve an agenda.
And the people doing it don’t even feel the need to hide it anymore.
The Digital Book Burning
Is Just Beginning
What happens when we allow governments to decide which parts of history are worth keeping?
This purge has meaning far beyond Arlington National Cemetery—it’s part of a much bigger effort to reshape public knowledge. From Texas banning school curriculums that discuss systemic racism to Florida rewriting civil rights history to say that enslaved people benefited from slavery, this is an organized effort to curate the past to serve a political agenda.
The same people who claimed to defend history are now the ones destroying it.
And if we don’t push back, the digital book burning won’t stop here.
Essayist bio:
Joel Emery is the founder of American Reality, an online platform dedicated to breaking down complex socio-political and economic issues in a way that’s clear and strategic.
“We live in a time when [dis]information is rampant, media narratives are weaponized, and trust in institutions is eroding. That’s not an accident—it’s by design. Those who benefit from confusion and fear have no interest in a well-informed public.
That’s why I started American Reality—to help cut through the noise.
This isn’t about pushing an agenda or reinforcing divides. It’s about a quest to make sense of the world as it is—not as someone else wants you to see it.”
#book banning #on censorship #erasing history
[1] Emory, Joel. “Why Facts Matter and Who Controls the Narrative Matters Even More.” American Reality https://american-reality.com/the-foundation-of-american-reality/
[2] Emory, Joel. “Why Facts Matter and Who Controls the Narrative Matters Even More.” American Reality https://american-reality.com/the-foundation-of-american-reality/
Reuters.com https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-erasure-transgender-references-extends-stonewall-monument-website-2025-02-14/
Wall Street Journal.com https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trump-can-enforce-ban-on-dei-programs-for-now-court-says-1c2032f0https://apnews.com/article/7ef0bf4ce1d465f6b61f3fcfde544593
The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dei-programs-funding-companies-government-s0t5356jd
Header: https://american-reality.com/
The Confederate Monument Debate: Bowen, Jim. Flickr: Stone Mountain Carving. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. It has been cropped.
The Digital Purge of Military History: Frissell, Toni. Tuskegee Airmen of the 332nd Fighter Group, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), attend a briefing at Ramitelli Airfield, Italy, March 1945.This image is available from the United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsca.13245.
The Hypocrisy is Blinding: Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
What is This Really About: Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash
The Digital Book Burning Is Just Beginning: Photo by Freddy Kearney on Unsplash
A
ll too often, people thumb their noses at English majors, trivializing the subject as the pointless study of irrelevant stories. But, All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely depicts what a powerful effect the written word can have on a reader. How the stories that books tell can give us insight into the events unfolding around us.
And as it happens, the grammar lesson on passive versus active voice detailed in All American Boys is the key to this reading of Reynolds and Kiely’s work.
Broadly speaking, All American Boys is about two high school students, Rashad Butler and Quinn Collins, and their encounters with racism and police brutality within their community. Specifically, an instance of excessive force captured on video, and its impact on the Black victim, a casualty of racial profiling who was in fact innocent of the petty theft he was accused of. As well as the effect this turn of events has on the white classmate who happens to be a witness to the beating that landed its recipient in the hospital… not to mention being a close family friend of the offending officer.
The book’s epigraph (by Hillel the Elder) points toward the questions Rashad and Quinn come to ask themselves as a result of their experiences with this incident – which also sets up how All American Boys is formatted:
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
But if I am only for myself, what am I? [1]
.
The text is written in alternating voices emulating a dialogue, one we would benefit enormously from having as a nation. As Brandon Kiely noted in a recent interview, referencing Martin Luther King Jr.’s “The Other America” speech, these voices reflect the two very different Americas living side-by-side in this nation.[2]
Rashad’s voice, written by Jason Reynolds, addresses the first line of Hillel’s quote – the way racism operates in society, including how violence against Black people has been normalized. And the effect that has on the identity of those subjected to it.
Quinn’s voice, written by Brendan Kiely, speaks to the second line of Hillel’s quote – in the context of privileged (and one might say oblivious) nature of white existence when it comes to racism and police brutality in The United States.
Which brings us to how Mrs. Tracey’s lesson on passive versus active voice functions to inform a reading of All American Boys.
Rashad is falsely accused of shoplifting from a local convenience store and is violently beaten by a police officer, despite his lack of resistance. Needless to say, Rashad’s situation becomes the talk of his school. And, students are divided between “the officer was just doing his job” faction and an “it was racial-profiling-inspired police brutality” contingent.
While sitting in Mrs. Tracey classroom as she addresses Rashad’s absence and how the circumstances surrounding it have affected the student body, Quinn notices her notes on the whiteboard about passive versus active voice.
And, he comes to realize that this lesson on passive versus active voice is relevant to the incident that has the entire school community in an uproar.
For those who may benefit from a refresher… passive voice is when the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action. For example: The lamp was knocked over by Tommy. Active voice, on the other hand, is when the subject of the sentence is the one performing the action. As in: Tommy knocked over the lamp.[3]
“’Mistakes were made,’ Mrs. Tracey had scrawled on the white board. And beneath it she’d written, Who? Who made mistakes?”
Mistakes were made.
Rashad was beaten.
Paul beat Rashad.[4]
.
Quinn comes to understand that framing this instance of police brutality in a passive voice (as accounts of the incident had been) allows society to avoid accountability. It’s also important to note that describing the episode in passive voice discounts Rashad’s humanity and denies him agency.
Passive Beginnings.
Up until now, Rashad and Quinn have both lived pretty passive lives, meaning they have simply received actions/ assimilated life-shaping information from their parents and others in their social circles pretty much without question. The incident at Jerry’s market, however, triggers a metamorphosis in both boys from passive to active voice, as it were – to take action rather than simply fall in line their circle of friends and family.
The novel opens with Rashad’s story about how he joined the ROTC “to get [his] dad off [his] back. To make him happy.”[5] The more we learn about Rashad, the more apparent it becomes that he’s the good kid his father expects him to be.
And the more we read about how carefully Rashad is being raised, the more evident it becomes that his father’s concerns are in response to the negative way young black men are frequently characterized in the U.S. This perspective is demonstrated by the fact that Rashad’s father has definitely had “the talk” with his teenage son… that is, how to survive as a Black man when encountering authority.
This message has been drilled into Rashad’s head with a military-style cadence chanted frequently in call-and-response style with his father:
Never fight back. Never talk back. Keep your hands up. Keep your mouth shut. Just do what they ask you to do, and you’ll be fine. [6]
.
In other words, remain passive. Which ultimately fails to protect Rashad from racial profiling and police violence.
Quinn is a star athlete on the basketball team, and one of the school’s leading prospects for the college scouts scheduled to visit in the next few days. He’s a popular student, and loyal son to his father – a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan. He’s also a dutiful son to his mother, whose lessons occupy his mind as he begins nearly every day:
Ma’s voice in my head, telling me what I needed to do, what I needed to think about, how I needed to act. [7]
.
The favorite teenage hang out in town is a pizza joint called Mother’s. A picture of Quinn’s father hangs on the wall amid photos of those who work in the family-run pizza shop. He’s dressed in his Class A blues alongside “two guys in greasy T-shirts with their arms up around [his] dad’s shoulders.”[8] Quinn’s father is nothing short of revered there. And, Quinn notes that he “[has] it good at Mother’s”:
…the guys at Mother’s always gave Saint Springfield’s son a major discount, and yeah, well, I was the kind of guy who just kept taking those free Cokes no questions asked, like I actually deserved them or something.[9]
.
Clearly, both young men are still passively functioning within the patterns and rhythms created by their families. One of them in an effort to navigate a world where “Black men are at disproportionate risk of death from lethal force by law enforcement compared to white men.”[10] And the other, living a life of relative privilege, blissfully unaware of such statistics.
If I Am Not For Myself,
Who Will Be For Me?
We also learn that Rashad is an artist. And, a significant detail about Rashad’s art is that his subjects are faceless. Which is precisely how Rashad feels as he lay in the hospital bed watching the news coverage of the incident that put him there – just another victim:
I had seen this happen so many times. Not personally, but on TV. In the news. People getting beaten, and sometimes killed, by the cops, and then there’s all this fuss about it, only to build up to a big heartbreak when nothing happens. The cops get off. And everybody cries and waits for the next dead kid, to do it all over again. That’s the way the story goes.[11]
.
It feels like the news coverage of the incident at Jerry’s, complete with video captured by an onlooker, is running on a loop. Not only does Rashad repeatedly see himself “being crushed under the weight of the cop,” he hears the recurring insinuation that he was yet another perpetrator in a “string of robberies” at Jerry’s.[12]
Feeling as forlorn as he does, Rashad is inclined to remain passive, and blow off the rally against police brutality that was sparked by the incident he was involved in. That is, until he meets Mrs. Fitzgerald, an elderly lady who works in the hospital gift shop.
Mrs. Fitzgerald tells Rashad a story about her brother, who participated in the Civil Rights protests and “took the bus trip down to Selma.”[13] He begged her to go. But, she didn’t. Because she was scared.
Sounding very much like the sentiments Rashad has expressed about police brutality, Mrs. Fitzgerald told her brother “it didn’t matter.” [14]
But as she watched the clips on the news, she began to regret not joining her brother in the Civil Rights protest in Selma and the March on Washington. Because she came to realize how courageous he was, and that he was not protesting only for himself, but for “all of us.”[15]
Mrs. Fitzgerald gives Rashad a piece of advice that sets his “active voice” in motion:
Now, I’m not telling you what to do. But I’m telling you that I’ve been watching the news, and I see what’s going on. There’s something that ain’t healed, and it’s not just those ribs of yours. And it’s perfectly okay for you to be afraid, but whether you protest or not, you’ll still be scared. Might as well let your voice be heard, son, because let me tell you something, before you know it you’ll be seventyfour and working in a gift shop, and no one will be listening anymore.[16]
.
Rashad thinks about what Mrs. Fitzgerald had to say and how he would feel if he didn’t go to the protest, if he didn’t, as she said, “speak up.”[17] He turns on the TV, and sits and watches the news. But this time, he really watches it, forcing himself to see himself, to relive the pain and confusion. And, how his life changed “in the time it took to drop a bag of chips on a sticky floor.”[18] Then, he picks up his sketch pad:
And started drawing like crazy, but it was hard—stupid damn tears kept wetting the page, they wouldn’t stop, but neither would I. So I kept going, letting the wet spread the lead in weird ways as I shaded and darkened the image. The figure of a man pushing his fist through the other man’s chest. The other figure standing behind, cheering. A few minutes more, and normally it would’ve been complete. A solid piece, maybe even the best I had ever made. But it wasn’t quite there yet. It was close, but still unfinished. I took my pencil, and for the first time broke away from Aaron Douglas’s signature style. Because I couldn’t stop—and I began to draw features on the face of the man having his chest punched through. Starting with the mouth.[19]
.
Rashad has found his voice. And, bearing that in mind, he does march in the protest. As a symbolic gesture, he removes his bandages prior to the protest, because he wants people to see what happened. He wants them to know that regardless of whether Officer Galluzzo gets off scot-free, and this day ends up like other protests sparked by police brutality visited upon young Black men, that he would never be the same person.
In the midst of the protest, Rashad notes:
I knew it wasn’t just about me. I did. But it felt good to feel like I had support. That people could see me.[20]
.
Rashad has evolved from being the recipient of the action, to someone taking action. He is no longer being forced by outside pressures, appearing as a stereotype to be co-opted by those in power. Rashad has developed into a self-affirming individual taking a publicly antiracist stance. Consequently, people genuinely see him and his earnest nature. And, as Hillel predicted, they are for him.
But If I Am Only For Myself,
What Am I?
As noted above, Quinn is a witness to the police brutality that put Rashad in the hospital. The following Monday “everyone – everyone— was talking about” the video of the incident.[21] Everyone, that is, except Quinn because he doesn’t want to put himself back there, watching it happen all over again.
But, more significantly, it occurs to Quinn that he might be in the video, which makes him start “freaking out.”[22] And, that’s more than a little self-absorbed given how things turned out for Rashad.
During a conversation with his friend Jill, Quinn is relieved to discover that he isn’t in the video after all. But, Jill also brings it to his attention in no uncertain terms that “This is not about you, dumb*ss.”[23] And, the proverbial light bulb begins to flicker for Quinn about the larger implications of what transpired at Jerry’s the previous Friday.
A couple days later, Mrs. Tracey enters her classroom with a copy of the novel Invisible Man in her hand. She had assigned the first chapter a week earlier, which Ralph Ellison originally published as a short story titled Battle Royal.
Quinn had never read anything like it, and doing so made him “twisted up in discomfort.”[24] He hated the violence, and how the white men in the story watched Black boys getting beaten, and beat each other, for sport. But, Quinn tells himself, in passive thinking born of obliviousness:
White people were crazy back then, eighty years ago, when the story took place. Not now. [25]
.
Mrs. Tracey tells the class that the school’s administrators have decided it would be best to just move on to the next unit rather than assign a paper for this story as they usually did. It seems Battle Royal hits a little too close to home. The obvious parallels between Ellison’s story and the incident at Jerry’s would likely lead to discussions about Rashad and why he has been absent from school. So, no papers would be written on this unit.
And that’s when Quinn begins to understand what Ralph Ellison meant by the title Invisible Man… when it really starts to sink in:
…a weight of dread dropped through me. Were we going to talk about the story again? After Rashad? Because after what had happened to Rashad, it felt like no time had passed at all. It could have been eighty years ago. Or only eight. Now it wasn’t only the city aldermen. Now there were the videos, and we were all watching this sh*t happen again and again on our TVs and phones – shaking our heads but doing nothing about it.[26]
.
Quinn sees what was in Ellison’s text about invisibility. Why shouldn’t their classes talk about what happened to Rashad? “Was what happened to him invisible? Was he invisible?”[27]
So, Quinn instigates a spontaneous read-aloud of Ellison’s work in class. And, it fell upon him to read the old grandfather’s deathbed advice,a passage reminding everyone in class “what had to be learned by the ‘young’uns:”[28]
Grandfather had been a quiet old man who never made any trouble, yet on his deathbed he had called himself a traitor and a spy, and he had spoken of his meekness as a dangerous activity.[29]
.
Quinn’s proverbial light bulb is becoming increasingly brighter. It becomes clear to him that being passive does nothing but maintain the status quo, keeping marginalized communities invisible:
It was like Jill had said. Nobody wants to think he’s being a racist, but maybe it was a bigger problem, like everyone was just ignoring it, like it was invisible. Maybe it was all about racism? I hated that sh*t, and I hated thinking it had so much power over all our lives—even the people I knew best. Even me.[30]
.
New understandings like Quinn’s is why reading books about people whose lives are different than our own is so important. Doing so gives us insight into societal issues we haven’t experienced, or may not even be aware of because they aren’t happening to us – even when those things are happening to people we may work alongside or go to school with.
Quinn’s description of this dynamic as it pertains to his relationship with Rashad – or lack thereof – is spot-on:
We lived in the same godd*mn city, went to the same godd*mn school, and our lives were so very godd*mn different.
Why? You’d think we’d have so much in common, for God’s sake. Maybe we even did. And yet, why was there so much sh*t in between us, so much sh*t I could barely even see the guy?[31]
.
Sometimes, violence like Ellison talks about (which is purportedly the reason for his work being banned) is a regular part of what some folks contend with on a daily basis. Not to mention the fear of being on the receiving end of racial profiling and police brutality (which All American Boys has been banned for addressing). But, we would never know such injustices exist, or more importantly feel called to address them, if all we know about the world has been limited to the bubble of a single perspective.
Ellison’s work, and its relevance to the police brutality Rashad has experienced, pops the proverbial bubble Quinn has been living in. Battle Royal is Quinn’s wake-up call:
Well, where was I when Rashad was lying in the street? Where was I the year all these black American boys were lying in the streets? Thinking about scouts? Keeping my head down like Coach said? That was walking away. It was running away, for God’s sake. I. Ran. Away. F*ck that. I didn’t want to run away anymore. I didn’t want to pretend it wasn’t happening. I wanted to turn around and run right into the face of it… [32]
.
Quinn has come to realize that part of the privilege his whiteness affords is the notion that injustices he witnesses can be ignored. That it’s easier to diagnose racism as a social problem than confront it on an individual level.
So, he finds a fat, black permanent market, digs up one of his white t-shirts, and writes I’M MARCHING on the front of it – referring of course to the protest against police brutality scheduled for that weekend. Then, he writes ARE YOU? On the back of the shirt. And, he wore that shirt to school the next day.
This new perspective allows Quinn to break free from the blind loyalty his tight knit circle (which includes the offending police officer’s family) expect from him. The type of loyalty they associate with Quinn’s father and his military service. Even though this hard choice cost him a busted lip at the hands of someone he previously counted as his best friend:
Your dad was loyal to the end,’ they’d all tell me. ‘Loyal to his country, loyal to his family,’ they meant.[33]
.
Quinn wants to be his father’s son, as the saying goes. But, he also realizes that the thing his dad was most loyal to was his belief that a better world was possible. And, he was someone who stood up for it, not just for those in his immediate circle.
Quinn has clearly contemplated Hillel’s question, “But if I am only for myself, what am I?” And as a result, he has evolved from seeing the world in a passive and narrow manner, to engaging the world and actively addressing injustices that exist outside his limited circle.
A Die-In. Sort Of Like
The Sit-ins Back in The Day.
After Rashad returns home from the hospital, he goes straight to his room and begins to “scour the Internet” to catch up on his life. The hashtag #RashadIsAbsentAgainToday brought hundreds if not a thousand posts from all around the country.
There were pictures of people carrying posters with the hashtag written on them. Others simply read ABSENT AGAIN. And then, there was the picture of some guy with a T-shirt that said I’M MARCHING on the front, and ARE YOU? written on the back.
The protest is to start at Jerry’s at 5:30 on Friday afternoon and work its way down to the police station. It would culminate in a Die-In – which is sort of like the sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Rashad’s brother Spoony pulls a stack of papers out of his bag, and says:
Then we make the most powerful statement we can make.” Spoony dug in his bag and pulled out a stack of papers. “We read every name on this list. Out loud… [34]
.
The list, of course, contains the names of unarmed Black people who have been killed by the police, enough names to fill several sheets of paper.
And, the protest turns out to be much more than just a handful of high school students. The street was a river of people, with Rashad at the front of the march. “Speaking truth to power. Standing up for injustice.”[35] And it goes off without a hitch.
During the protest Quinn makes a video of himself for his younger brother, stating:
If [Dad] died for freedom and justice – well, what the hell did he die for if it doesn’t count for all of us? [36]
.
Quinn’s video narration could be described as his version of “what had to be learned by the young’uns.”
Despite the fact that Rashad and Quinn’s stories are so intertwined, the two never actually meet each other. And, that’s important to note, because as Jason Reynolds pointed out it in a recent interview, a “kumbaya moment” at the close of the novel, “where everything is right with the world,” wouldn’t be reality.”[37] But most of all, “you don’t need to actually know a person to care about their well-being.”[38]
The final chapter is written as a poem. Like the overall format of the novel, it consists of alternating stanzas between each narrator:
Oh my God! He was right over there!
Closer than I’d been to him when
Paul laid into him. Much closer.
And Rashad was looking at me, too.
I locked eyes with a kid I didn’t know, but
felt like I did. A white guy, who I could tell
was thinking about those names too.
All I wanted to do was see the guy I hadn’t
seen one week earlier. The guy beneath
all the bullshit too many of us see first—
especially white guys like me who just haven’t
worked hard enough to look behind it all.
Those people. I hadn’t known any of them,
and he probably hadn’t either. But I was
connected to those names now, because
of what happened to me. We all were. I
was sad. I was angry. But I was also proud.
Proud that I was there. Proud that I could
represent Darnell Shackleford. Proud
that I could represent Mrs. Fitzgerald—
her brother who was beaten in Selma.
I wanted him to know that I saw him,
a guy who, even with a tear-streaked
face, seemed to have two tiny smiles
framing his eyes like parentheses, a guy
on the ground pantomiming his death
to remind the world he was alive.
For all the people who came before
us, fighting this fight, I was here,
screaming at the top of my lungs.
Rashad Butler.
Present.[39]
The poem speaks to the third enduring question posed by Hillel some two thousand years ago:
And, if not now, when? [40]
.
Though Hillel’s third enduring question isn’t included in the novel’s epigraph, its sentiment is implied throughout All American Boys. The incident at Jerry’s shakes both Rashad and Quinn out of a passive tendency to stick with their respective herds, if you will, sparking them to actively address the racial injustices that continue to occur in the United States.
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man prompted the proverbial light bulb to flicker for Quinn. Reading All American Boys is also an eye-opening experience. One that has the capacity to pop the bubble many of us have been living in. And, be a catalyst for transforming readers from being passive members of society to taking action toward making the world a better place. This is the power of literature, whether it’s a classic novel like Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, or a new favorite like All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely.
That’s my take on All American Boys, what’s yours?
[1] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, epigraph.
[2] “All American Boys.” Velshi Banned Book Club: Police brutality, white privilege, and “All American Boys.” https://www.ms.now/ali-velshi/watch/velshibannedbookclub-police-brutality-white-privilege-and-all-american-boys-159483973820
[3] “Active Versus Passive Voice.” Purdue Online Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/active_and_passive_voice/active_versus_passive_voice.html
“Active vs. Passive Voice: What’s the difference?” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/active-vs-passive-voice-difference
[4] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 213.
[5] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 9.
[6] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 50.
[7] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 63.
[8] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 77.
[9] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 78.
[10] Ramos, Jill Terreri. Politifact. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/apr/29/kevin-parker/police-violence-leading-cause-death-young-black-me/
[11] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 59.
[12] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 94.
[13] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 245.
[14] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 245.
[15] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 245.
[16] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 245.
[17] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 246.
[18] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 246.
[19] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 246.
[20] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 306.
[21] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 123.
[22] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 128.
[23] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 130.
[24] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 212.
[25] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 212.
[26] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 213.
[27] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 215.
[28] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 217.
[29] Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Vintage Books, 1995, Pg 16.
[30] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 262.
[31] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 261.
[32] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 251.
[33] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 267.
[34] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 282.
[35] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 294.
[36] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 294.
[37] “All American Boys.” Velshi Banned Book Club: Police brutality, white privilege, and “All American Boys.” https://www.ms.now/ali-velshi/watch/velshibannedbookclub-police-brutality-white-privilege-and-all-american-boys-159483973820
[38] “All American Boys.” Velshi Banned Book Club: Police brutality, white privilege, and “All American Boys.” https://www.ms.now/ali-velshi/watch/velshibannedbookclub-police-brutality-white-privilege-and-all-american-boys-159483973820
[39] Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. New York: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2015, Pg 309-310.
[40] Rev. Shawn Newton. “The Three Vital Questions.” First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto. December 11, 2022. https://www.firstunitariantoronto.org/wp-content/sermons/2022/2022-12-11%20Shawn%20Newton%20-%20The%20Three%20Vital%20Questions.pdf
What’s the Conversation?: Photo by autumn_ schroe on Unsplash
Passive versus Active voice: Photo by Ivan Shilov on Unsplash
Passive Beginnings: Photo by Stanley Emrys on Unsplash
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?: Photo by Reneé Thompson on Unsplash
But if I am only for myself, what am I?: Photo by Alonso Reyes on Unsplash
A Die-in: Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
In Conclusion: Photo by Koshu Kunii on Unsplash
M
erry Christmas! And, here’s a free downable copy of banned author L. Frank Baum’s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus for your virtual stocking.
It’s Santa’s origin story as told by L. Frank Baum. Though The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus isn’t located in Oz, it’s written by this master world-builder. So, rest assured there are plenty of whimsical characters, magical happenings, and daring adventures to satisfy the imagination of any reader. It’s about Santa Claus, after all.
You’re probably no stranger to Baum’s name because he also wrote The Wizard of Oz series. Which was banned because of its strong female characters in leadership roles, among other things.
And, if you are familiar with the works of L. Frank Baum, you’re likely aware that Elphaba’s name (yet another strong female character in the Oz-inspired Wicked) is a play on his moniker: L-F-Ba, get it?
Whether you celebrate Christmas, or one of the other wonderful holidays that take place this time of year, enjoy this seasonally specific work by banned author L. Frank Baum.
And, be sure to check out our reading of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz while you’re at it.
